Green or adaptive data center system having primary and secondary renewable energy sources

ABSTRACT

A data center system is disclosed. The data center includes a housing heat producing compute IT equipment, a photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector as a first electrical power source, a bio-gas power generator system as second electrical power source, a bio-oil power generator system as a third electrical power source, and a heat transfer system having a circulating coolant, wherein the heat transfer system captures and transfers taste heat generated by the compute IT equipment and the photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector to the circulating coolant, and transfers heat from the heated coolant to at least one of the bio-gas power generator system as a primary electrical power source for the IT equipment and the bio-oil power generator system as a secondary power source for the IT equipment.

RELATED APPLICATION

The application claims the benefit of 35 USC 119(e) to U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/684,232 filed 17 Aug. 2012 (17 Aug. 2012).

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a data center and more specifically toa data center system having primary and secondary renewable energysupply sources.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Data centers host business critical systems and are required to beavailable seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, for each day ofthe year. It is among the highest energy consuming e n the informationtechnology (“IT”) industry and is also the fastest growing,

Approximately 80% of data center operating costs are energy related andaccount for one of the largest “single” industry uses of power globally,Data centers are estimated to use 2% of all the power produced in theUnited States at a cost of about $200 billion (USD) of power usageannually (EPA, 2008). A data center provides the information technologysector with infrastructure, the size and expanse of which is growing ata rate of 40% annually (Gartner, 2010).

Data centers are also among the most inefficient systems when it comesto energy consumption. On average, data centers have a 45% efficiencyrating, i.e. at best only 45% of the energy supplied to the data centeris consumed by the IT equipment/servers, with the remaining 55% beingused to cool the data center system equipment. The purpose of thecooling infrastructure is to create the optimal computing environment,ensuring operational longevity of the IT equipment, (i.e. networks,servers, data storage, monitoring and management systems) installedwithin and the vitality of the IT system they support.

The IT systems themselves also consume a lot of power. For example, atypical server may consume about 600 Watts per hour (Koomey et al, USCongress Report, 2008) with most data centers having in excess of 7,000servers. Therefore the annual consumption of a typical data center couldbe as much as 37,000 Megawatt/year or $3.0 M of IT energy and another$3.0 M for cooling. In addition, the need for maximum availabilityintroduces multiple redundant components at all levels. A typicalenterprise data center is designed to uptime Institute Tier IIIspecifications, where there is N+1 of all components and a Tier IVfacility has dual redundancy (2N+1), where two redundant components areactive at ail times with a redundant pair on standby for backup. Thisrequirement for redundancy further exuberate the inefficiency andincreased costs associated with operating a data center. Today, atypical data center has a Power Utilization Efficiency ratio of 2.4(Gartner, Burton and McKenzie, 2010). This implies that 2.4 Matt issupplied to the data center for every 1 kWatt consumed at the server. APUE of 2.8 to 3.1 is not uncommon in older data center structures.

In addition, because data centers host business critical systems, theyrequire redundant power sources in the event of power failure, namelyprimary and secondary power sources. Traditionally, primary powersources include utility feed (power generated by nuclear plants orburning of fossil fuel) with secondary sources being provided by standbydiesel generators. in both cases, neither is a renewable energy sourceand are major causes of adverse environmental impact, which whencompounded by the additional impact of waste heat generated andexhausted to the environment by the data center, increases the impactand environmental harm caused by data center systems as a whole.

Undoubtedly, data centers system have a combined negative environmentalimpact due to the large energies consumed and additional waste heatproduct exhausted to the environment during cooling. Accordingly, thereremains a need for an improved data center system which reduces energyconsumption and improves and/or minimizes the environmental impact ofdata center system on the environment.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention has been developed in view of the difficulties inthe art noted and described above.

The data center system in accordance with the present inventionincorporates renewable energy sources, whereby waste heat generated bythe data center compute IT equipment is captured and transferred to therenewable energy sources for use in the production of electricity thatmay be supplied back to the data center compute IT equipment.

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a data center systemcomprising a data center housing heat producing compute IT equipment, aphotovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector s a primary electrical powersource, a bio-gas power generator system as a secondary electrical powersource, a bio-oil power generator system as a tertiary electrical powersource and a heat transfer system having a circulating coolant, whereinthe heat transfer system captures and transfers waste heat generated bythe compute IT equipment and the photovoltaic: thermal hybrid solarcollector to the circulating coolant, and transfers heat from the heatedcoolant to at least one of the bio-gas power generator system and thebio-oil power generator system.

In a further aspect, the data center comprises an equipment cabinetstoring the compute IT equipment, and the heat transfer system comprisesa cooling unit associated with the equipment cabinet, the cooling unithousing a heat exchanger for capturing and transferring the waste heatproduct produced by the compute IT equipment stored in the equipmentcabinet to the circulating coolant of the heat transfer system passingthrough the cooling unit.

In a further aspect, the bio-gas power generator system comprises abio-mass holding tank for storing bio-waste material, a biodigester forproducing a bio-gas from the bio-waste material stored and transferredfrom he bio-mass holding tank, a bio-gas holding tank for storing thebio-gas produced and transferred from the biodigester, and a bio-gasgenerator for generating electrical power from the bio-gas stored andtransferred from the bio-gas holding tank.

In a further aspect, the bio-oil power generator system comprises a hotwater holding tank for storing heated water, an algae growth pond influid communication with the hot water holding tank for growing oilproducing algae, an algae oil extractor for extracting bio-oil from thealgae grown in the algae growth pond, a No-oil holding tank for storingthe bio-oil extracted by the algae oil extractor, and a bio-oilgenerator for generating electrical power from the bio-oil stored andtransferred from the bio-oil holding tank.

In a further aspect, the heat exchanger system comprises a first heattransfer unit for transferring heat from the circulating coolant to thebio-waste stored in the bio-mass holding tank, a second heat transferunit for transferring heat from the circulating coolant to thebiodigester, a third heat transfer unit for transferring heat from thecirculating coolant to the water stored in the hot water holding tank,and a fourth heat transfer unit for transferring heat from thecirculating coolant to the algae growth pond.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a datacenter system comprising: a data center housing an equipment cabinetstoring IT equipment; a bio-gas power generator system comprising abio-mass holding tank for storing bio-waste material, a biodigester forproducing a bio-gas from the bio-waste material stored in the bio-massholding tank, a bio-gas holding tank for storing the bio-gas produced bythe biodigester, and a bio-gas generator for generating electrical powerfrom the bio-gas stored in the bio-gas holding tank; a bio-oil powergenerator system comprising a hot water holding tank for storing heatedwater, an algae growth pond operably connected to the hot water holdingtank for growing oil producing algae, an algae oil extractor forextracting bio-oil from the algae grown in the algae growth pond, abio-oil holding tank for storing the bio-oil extracted by the algae oilextractor, and a bio-oil generator for generating electrical power fromthe bio-oil stored in the bio-oil holding tank; and a heat exchangersystem comprising a first heat exchanger unit being in fluidcommunication with an internal space of the cabinet, the first heatexchanger unit being operable to intake heated air generated by the ITequipment from the internal space of the cabinet and exhaust cooled airto the internal space of the cabinet by passing the heated air throughthe first heat exchanger unit where heat is transferred to a coolantcirculated through the first heat exchanger unit, the first heatexchanger unit including a coolant outlet and coolant return, whereby incirculation the coolant outlet supplies the heated coolant to at leastone second heat exchanger unit for transferring the heat from thecoolant to at least one of the bio-mass holding tank, the biodigester,the hot water holding tank and the algae growth pond, wherein the cooledcoolant is circulated back to the first heat exchanger unit via thecoolant return; wherein the bio-mass holding tank uses the heat removedfrom the circulating coolant to preheat the bio-waste material, thebioreactor uses the heat removed from the circulating coolant to producethe bio-gas, the hot water holding tank uses the heat removed from thecirculating coolant to preheat the heated water, and the algae growthpond uses the heat removed from the circulating coolant to heat the pondwater.

In yet a further aspect, the coolant comprises water and/or water/glycolmixture.

In yet a further aspect, the biogas comprises methane gas.

Further aspects of the invention will become apparent upon reading thefollowing detailed description and drawings, which illustrate exemplaryembodiments of this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference may now be had to the following detailed description takentogether with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of a data center system in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a front perspective view of a cooling unit of the datacenter system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an exploded front perspective view of a left sideequipment/server cabinet, the cooling unit shown in FIG. 2, and a rightside equipment/server cabinet of the data center system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a top plan view of the air flow through the cooling unitshown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a top plan view of the air flow through the left sideequipment/server cabinet, the cooling unit and the right sideequipment/server cabinet shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 shows a data center system in accordance with a first embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a data center system in accordance with a second embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a data center system in accordance with a third embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a data center system in accordance with a fourth embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a front perspective view of a photovoltaic thermal hybridsolar collector of the data center system shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference may now be made to FIG. 1 which illustrates a schematicoverview of the components of a data center system 1000 in accordancewith the present disclosure. The data center system 1000 includes a datacenter 100 housing IT compute equipment, a photovoltaic thermal hybridsolar collector 500, a bio-gas power generator system 200, a bio-oilpower generator system 300, a cooling-tower 600 and a heat transfersystem 400.

The data center 100 houses a plurality of cabinets/racks 12 a, 12 b.Each cabinet 12 a, 12 b includes a box-like frame having top, bottom,right side and left side panels defining an interior space. Each cabinet12 a, 12 b also includes front and rear doors providing access to theinterior space of the cabinet 12 a, 12 b. The front door and/or reardoors may be made of any suitable material, but preferably are made froma transparent material such as a glass or polymer based material. In aclosed position, each of the front and rear doors provide an air tightseal with respect the frame so the interior space of each cabinet 12 a,12 b is sealed from an exterior environment of the cabinet 12 a, 12 b.

Within the interior space of each cabinet 12 a, 12 b there is providedat least one horizontal shelve for supporting IT equipment 10, such asservers. The shelves divide the interior space of the cabinets 12 a, 12b into separated horizontal compartments, respectively, and may bearranged such that each compartment is sealed or isolated from oneanother.

The heat transfer system 400 includes a plurality of in-line coolingunits 70, with each unit being associated with a respective cabinet 12a, 12 b of the data center 100. Each in-line cooling unit 70 includes abox-like frame 71 having a top panel 72, a bottom panel 73, a right sidepanel 74 (shop as being removed in FIG. 2) and a left side panel 75.Adjustable leveling pads 76 are provided on a bottom portion of theframe 71, with front 78 and rear 79 doors being hinge mounted to theframe 71. The front door 78 and rear door 79 are of a solid constructionand provide an air tight seal with respect to the frame 71 when in aclosed position so that an space of the cooling unit 70 is sealed fromits surrounding environment,

Within the interior space of the cooling unit 70 there is provided inparallel relation a first heat exchanger unit 81 and a second heatexchanger unit 82, The heat exchanger units 81 and 82 are arrangedcentrally within the cooling unit 70 and are disposed across a width ofthe cooling unit 70. In a preferred aspect, to maximize the area of heattransfer between the flowing air and the heat exchangers, each heatexchanger 81 and 82 is provided with a convex surface bowing outwardlytowards the rear door 76 of the cooling unit 70. The in-line coolingunit 70 is provided with a coolant supply line to supply a cooledcoolant, preferably water at <15 degree Celsius, to the first and secondheat exchanger units 81 and 82 where heat transfer takes place and acoolant exhaust line to remove the heated water, preferably at >25degree C., which has passed through the first and second heat exchangers81, 82. Each of the coolant supply line and the coolant exhaust line naybe provided with feed pumps, filters and/or shut off valves, as requiredto control the flow of coolant through the in-line cooling unit 70.

As more fully detailed in FIGS. 2 and 3, towards a rear section of thecooling unit 70 six directional rearward fans 83 are arrangedheight-wise from top to bottom. The fans 83 are arranged to suck in airthrough rear air inlets 85 provided in the right side panel 74 and leftside panel 75 of the cooling unit 70. Similarly, towards the frontsection of the cooling unit 70 six directional forward tans 84 arearranged height-wise from top to bottom, similar to the rearward fans83. The forward fans 84 are arranged to blow air outwardly through frontair outlets 86 provided in the right side panel 74 and left side panel75 of the cooling unit 70.

Each cabinet 12 a, 12 b is provided with a plurality of correspondingopenings 66 a-66 f in either the right side panel 38 and/or left sidepanel 42 so that the interior space of the cabinets 12 a, 12 b are inair flow communication with an associated in-line cooling unit 70. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 3, in use, each of the rear air inlets 85 ofthe in-line cooling unit 70 are in fluid communication with respectiveopenings 66 a, 66 c and 66 e in the right side panel 38 of an associatedadjacent cabinet 12 a of the data center 100 and the left side panel 42of an associated adjacent cabinet 12 b. Similarly, each of the front airoutlets 86 are in fluid communication with respective opening 66 b, 66 dand 66 f in the right side panel 38 of cabinet 12 a and the left sidepanel 42 of cabinet 12 b.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the flow of air through the cooling unit 70 andadjacent cabinets 12 a, 12 b in an operational state. As shown with thedirectional arrows, hot air is sucked into the cooling unit 70 fromadjacent equipment cabinets 12 a, 12 b through the rear air inlets 85 bymeans of the fans 83. The hot air is blown through the first and secondheat exchangers 81 and 82, respectively, where water cooled fins removeand transfer the heat from the air stream into the coolant circulatingthrough the heat exchanger units 81 and 82. The cooled air is then blownout of the cooling unit 70 with the fans 84 through the air outlets 86to the adjacent left side cabinet 12 a and right side cabinet 12 b ofthe data center 100. Accordingly, air flow through the cooling unit 70is from back to front. The fans 83 draw in the warm air exhausted fromthe IT equipment 10 located in the adjacent cabinets 12 a, 12 b into therear of the cooling unit 70. The heated air is then directed through theair/water heat exchangers 81, 82 where the heat is transferred into thecoolant flowing through the heat exchangers 81, 82. The resultant cooledair is then directionally blown to the front side of the adjacentcabinets 12 a, 12 b with the assistance of the directional fans 84.Preferably, the heat exchanger is double headed, where two separatedair/water heat exchanger micro tubes packs are located in the chambers.Preferably each unit 81 and 82 are independent and have independentwater supply and exhaust lines to add redundancy and capacity to thesystem. Condensate (if any) is collected in a collecting tray positionedbelow the heat exchanger units 81 and 82, which drains into a wasteline.

The in-line cooling unit 70 is constructed to create a cyclonic airmovement profile within the IT equipment cabinets 12 a, 12 b to cool theequipment 10 stored therein. The temperature control of the cold airinto the IT equipment takes place through set point validation, withappropriately positioned sensors and controls. When the set pour isexceeded, a control valve of the cold water is opened and/or the fanspeed of the fans 83, 84 are adjusted accordingly. Preferably, bydefault only one of the heat exchange units 81 and 82 is active. Ifhowever the outlet temperature cannot reach the set point or a failurein one heat exchanger occurs, another valve will open and the secondheat exchanger is activated. Also, the fans 83 and 84 speed may bevaried which will accelerate or slow down the air flow through thecabinets 12 a, 12 b, depending on the delta in temperate between the hotand cold side of the cabinets.

Reference may now be made to FIG. 6 which exemplifies an embodiment 2000of the present disclosure where the heated coolant from the in-linecooling unit 70 of the data center 100 is circulated between the datacenter 100, a bio-gas power generator system 200 and a bio oil powergenerator system 300.

The bio-gas power generator system 200 includes a bio-mass holding tank220 for storing bio-waste material, a biodigester 240 for producing abio-gas from the bio-waste material stored and transferred from thebio-mass holding tank 220, a bio-gas holding tank 260 for storing thebio-gas produced and transferred from the biodigester 240, and a bio-gasgenerator 280 for generating electrical power from the bio-gas storedand transferred from the bio-gas holding tank 260.

The biodigester 240 includes biodigesters, as for example mesophililc orthermophilic digesters, and the bio-waste material transferred from thebio-mass holding tank 220 preferably includes cow manure, hay, water andmixtures thereof. Preferably, the bio-waste material includes 92%organic solid such as cow waste (manure); straw and corn husk extractand 8% water. In a preferred aspect, advantageously a portion of thewater stored in the bio-mass holding tank 220 may be supplied directlyfrom the heated coolant circulating through the heat transfer system 400when the coolant used is water.

The biodigester 240 produces a bio-gas, as for example methane gas. Thebio-gas is transferred to the bio-gas holding tank 260 fir storage. Thestored bio-gas may then be transferred to the electrical generator 280through a supply line valve where electricity is produced throughcombustion of the bio-gas. The electricity generated by the generator280 is supplied back to the IT equipment via power feed lines at theappropriate power requirements as a primary source of power for the datacenter 100.

The bio-oil power generator system 300 includes a hot water holding tank310 for storing heated water, an algae growth pond 320 in fluidcommunication with the hot water holding tank 310 for growing oilproducing algae, an algae oil extractor 330 for extracting oil from thealgae grown and transferred from the algae growth pond 320, a bio-oilholding tank 340 for storing the oil extracted and transferred from thealgae oil extractor 330, and a bio-oil generator 350 for generatingelectrical power from the bio-oil stored and transferred from thebio-oil holding tank 340.

The hot water holding tank 310 stores water at about 20 to 40 degreeCelsius, more preferably 25 to 30 degree Celsius, and supplies the watero the algae growth pond 320 where oil producing algae is grown.Preferably, the temperature of the pond 320 is maintained between 25 to37 degree Celsius for optimum algae growth conditions. The algae is thentransferred to the algae oil extractor 330 which extracts the bio-oilfrom the oil producing algae grown and transferred from the algae growthpond 320. The extracted bio-oil is then transferred for storage to thebio-oil holding tank 340 for later use by the bio-oil generator 350 toproduce electricity through combustion of the bio-oil. The electricitygenerated by the generator 350 is supplied back to the IT equipment viapower feed lines at the appropriate power requirements as a secondarysource of power for the data center 100.

The heat transfer system 400 circulates/supplies the heated coolant(i.e. water) from the cooling units 70 of the data center 100 betweenthe bio-mass holding tank 220, the biodigester 240, the hot waterholding tank 310 and algae growth pond 320 where heat transfer from theheated coolant (water) to at least one of the bio-mass holding tank 220,the biodigester 240, the hot water holding tank 310 and algae growthpond 320 takes place through a number of associated heat transfer units410, 420, 430, 440, respectively, Each heat transfer unit 410, 420, 430,440 includes associated control/by-pass valve 410 a, 420 a, 430 a, 440 awhich control the flow of water through the respective heat transferunit 410, 420, 430, 440 to thereby control the heat transfer from thecirculating coolant (water) as desired, and based on set pointtemperatures. Preferably, the control system selects the most efficientuse of heat input to the bio-gas system 200 and bio-oil system 300 basedon set point temperatures. For example, the heat in the circulatingcoolant (water) may be transferred to pre-heat the bio-waste materialstored in the bio-mass holding tank 220 or the water stored in theholding tank 310, and to provide direct heat to the biodigester 240 orthe algae growth pond 320. Like the data center 100 which requireselectricity to function, the biodigester 240 of the bio-gas powergenerator system 200 requires the bio-waste material to be heated toabout 40 to 55 degree Celsius to efficiently produce the bio-gas. Bypre-heating the bio-waste material, the amount of energy required toraise the temperature of the bio-waste to bio-gas production conditionsis significantly reduced and/or the bio-waste may be maintained atelevated temperatures for extended periods of time, thereby reducingproduction times. Similarly, the bio-oil power generator system 300requires temperatures of about 25 to 37 degree Celsius of the pond 320to efficiently grow the oil producing algae.

After the removal of heat from the circulating coolant (water) by atleast one of the bio-gas power generator system 200 and the bio-oilpower generator system 300, the subsequently cooled coolant is thenreturned to the in-line cooling units 70 of the data center 100 toabsorb heat generated by the IT equipment 10 of the data center 100 aswas detailed above.

With the data center system embodiment 2000, the closed loop circulationof the coolant (water) allows for the waste heat generated by the ITequipment to be utilized in the production of renewable green energywhich is supplied back to the IT equipment, thereby reducing the carbonfootprint and environmental impact of the data center system 2000.Furthermore, the renewable green energy source additionally useswaste-by-products, such as animal manure, as an input in the generationof electricity which also further reduces the overall environmentalimpact of the data center system 2000 in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

Reference may now be made to FIG. 7 which exemplifies a furtherembodiment 3000 in accordance the present disclosure. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 7, the coolant circulating through the heat transfersystem 400 is water. The water, which has been heated by passing throughthe cooling unit 70 of the data center 100 is supplied directly to thepond 320 as heated pond water. Cooler pond water is then directlysupplied to the cooling unit 70 of the data center from the pond 320through an algae filter 325 which separates the algae from the water. Inaccordance with this embodiment 3000, advantageously the heated water isused directly as the pond water to grow the algae. Cooler pond water, asfor example from the bottom portion of the pond water, is supplied backdirectly to the cooling unit 70.

Reference may now be made to FIG. 8 which exemplifies a furtherembodiment 4000 in accordance the present disclosure. The embodiment4000 shown in FIG. 8 is similar to that shown in FIG. 7, except that thepond water extracted from the pond 320 through the filter 325 is passedthrough a cooling tower 600 to reduce the temperature of the circulatingwater before being supplied back directly to the cooling unit 70 of thedata center 100. In accordance with this embodiment 4000, advantageouslythe circulating water heated by the cooling unit 70 of the data center100 is used directly as the pond water to grow the algae, and coolerwater draw from the pond 320 is further cooled by the cooling tower 600prior to being supplied back to the cooling unit 70.

Reference may now be made to FIGS. 9 and 10 which exemplify a furtherembodiment 5000 in accordance the present disclosure. The embodiment5000 includes the data center 100, bio-gas power generator system 200,bio-oil power generator system 300 and cooling tower 600 as previouslydescribed. The embodiment 5000 additionally includes at least one fluidcooled photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector 500 (hereafter “PVT”)arranged along the coolant circulation path of the heat transfer system400.

The PVT 500 includes a photovoltaic cell (PV cell) 510, which convertselectromagnetic radiation into electricity. The electricity generated bythe PV cell 510 is supplied back to the IT equipment via power feedlines at the appropriate power requirements as a primary source of powerfor the data center 100. Conductive-metal piping or a plate chiller 520is attached to the back of the PV cell 510 and the coolant circulatingthrough the heat exchanger system 400 flows through the piping or platechiller 520 to remove waste heat from the PV cell 510. Preferably,insulation 530 is provided to reduce heat losses from the piping/chiller520 to the ambient air. The heat generated in the PV cell 510 isconducted through the metal piping/chiller and absorbed by the coolantcirculating through the metal piping/chiller to cool the PV cell 510.The circulating fluid being further heated by the PV cell 510 then flowsto the system 200 or 300 as a further heated coolant for use as detailedabove. The PVT 500 may be arranged at any location along the heatexchanger system 400 path. In accordance with this embodiment 5000,advantageously use electricity can be generated while the circulatingcoolant is further heated, improving the driving efficiencies of thesystem 5000 as a whole. Preferably the outlet temperature of the coolantpassing through the PVT is about 30 to 55 degree Celsius.

To the extent that a patentee may act as its own lexicographer underapplicable law, it is hereby further directed that all words appearingin the claims section, except for the above defined words, shall take ontheir ordinary, plain and accustomed meanings (as generally evidenced,inter alia, by dictionaries and/or technical lexicons), and shall not beconsidered to be specially defined in this specification.Notwithstanding this limitation on the inference of “specialdefinitions”, the specification may be used to evidence the appropriate,ordinary, plain and accustomed meanings (as generally evidenced, interalia, by dictionaries and/or technical lexicons), in the situation wherea word or term used in the claims has more than one pre-establishedmeaning and the specification is helpful in choosing between thealternatives.

Although this disclosure has described and illustrated certain preferredembodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the inventionis not restricted to these particular embodiments. Rather, the inventionincludes all embodiments, which are functional, electrical or mechanicalequivalents of the specific embodiments and features that have beendescribed and illustrated herein.

It is to be further understood that the various features and embodimentsof the invention disclosed may be combined or used in conjunction withother features and embodiments of the invention as described andillustrated herein.

We claim:
 1. A data center system comprising: a data center housing heatproducing compute IT equipment; a photovoltaic thermal hybrid solarcollector as a first electrical power source; a bio-gas power generatorsystem as a second electrical power source; a bio-oil power generatorsystem as a third electrical power source; and a heat transfer systemhaying a circulating coolant, wherein the heat transfer system capturesand transfers waste heat generated by the compute IT equipment and thephotovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector to the circulating coolant,and transfers heat from the heated coolant to at least one of thebio-gas power generator system and the bio-oil power generator system,wherein the bio-gas power generator system functions as a primaryelectrical power source for the compute IT equipment and the bio-oilpower generator system functions as a secondary electrical power sourcefor the compute IT equipment.
 2. The data center system in accordancewith claim 1, wherein the data center comprises an equipment cabinetstoring the IT equipment, and the heat transfer system comprises acooling unit associated with the equipment cabinet, the cooling unithousing a heat exchanger for capturing and transferring the waste heatproduct produced by the IT equipment to the circulating coolant of theheat transfer system.
 3. The data center system in accordance with claim2, wherein the bio-gas power generator system comprises a bio-massholding tank for storing bio-waste material, a biodigester for producinga bio-gas from the bio-waste material stored and transferred from thebio-mass holding tank, a bio-gas holding tank for storing the bio-gasproduced and transferred from the biodigester, and a bio-gas generatorfor generating electrical power from the bio-gas stored and transferredfrom the bio-gas holding tank.
 4. The data center system in accordancewith claim 3, wherein the bio-oil power generator system comprises a hotwater holding tank for storing heated water, an algae growth pond influid communication with the hot water holding tank for growing oilproducing algae, an algae oil extractor for extracting bio-oil from thealgae grown in the algae growth pond, a bio-oil holding tank for storingthe bio-oil extracted by the algae oil extractor, and a bio-oilgenerator for generating electrical power from the bio-oil stored andtransferred from the bio-oil holding tank.
 5. The data center system inaccordance with claim 4, wherein the heat exchanger system comprises afirst heat transfer unit for transferring heat from the circulatingcoolant to the bio-waste stored in the bio-mass holding tank, a secondheat transfer unit for transferring heat from the circulating coolant tothe biodigester, a third heat transfer unit for transferring heat fromthe circulating coolant to the water stored in the hot water holdingtank, and a fourth heat transfer unit for transferring heat from thecirculating coolant to the algae growth pond.
 6. The data center systemin accordance with claim 5, wherein the coolant comprises one of waterand a water/glycol mixture.
 7. The data center system in accordance withclaim 6, wherein the biogas comprises methane gas.
 8. A data centersystem comprising: a data center housing an equipment cabinet storing ITequipment; a bio-gas power generator system comprising a bio-massholding tank for storing bio-waste material, a biodigester for producinga bio-gas from the bio-waste material stored in the bio-mass holdingtank, a bio-gas holding tank for storing the bio-gas produced by thebiodigester, and a bio-gas generator for generating electrical powerfrom the bio-gas stored in the bio-gas holding tank; a bio-oil powergenerator comprising a hot water holding tank for storing heated water,an algae growth pond operably connected to the hot water holding tankfor growing oil producing algae, an algae oil extractor for extractingbio-oil from the algae grown in the algae growth pond, a bio-oil holdingtank for storing the bio-oil extracted by the algae oil actor, and abio-oil generator for generating electrical power from the bio-oilstored in the bio-oil holding tank; and a heat exchanger systemcomprising a first heat exchanger unit being in fluid communication withan internal space of the cabinet, the first heat exchanger unit beingoperable to intake heated air generated by the IT equipment from theinternal space of the cabinet and exhaust cooled air to the internalspace of the cabinet by passing the heated air through the first heatexchanger unit where heat is transferred to a coolant circulated throughthe first heat exchanger unit, the first heat exchanger unit including acoolant outlet and a coolant return, whereby in circulation the coolantoutlet supplies the heated coolant to at least one second heat exchangerunit for transferring the heat from the coolant to at least one of thebio-mass holding tank, the biodigester, the hot water holding tank andthe algae growth pond, wherein the coolant is circulated back to thefirst heat exchanger unit via the coolant return; wherein the biomassholding tank uses the heat removed from the circulating coolant topreheat the bio-waste material, the bioreactor uses the heat removedfrom the circulating coolant to produce the bio-gas, the hot waterholding tank uses the heat removed from the circulating coolant topreheat the heated water, and the algae growth pond uses the heatremoved from the circulating coolant to heat the pond water.
 9. The datacenter system in accordance with claim 8, further comprising at leastone photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector for generatingelectrical power, wherein the circulating coolant flows through the atleast one photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector where heat istransferred from the at east one (photovoltaic thermal hybrid solarcollector to the coolant.
 10. The data center system in accordance withclaim 9, wherein the coolant comprises one of water and a water/glycolmixture.
 11. The data center system in accordance with claim 10, whereinthe biogas comprises methane gas.